THINKing

Reading List

What are you reading today? Here are a few items we are checking out.

Newspaper Online Traffic Heads Up

Google Fast Flip Speeds Online News Reading

iPhone App Helps You Find Guinness

Measuring The Business Effects Of Web 2.0

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Face Time

Some social media proponents would have you believe that the digital world is the new Nirvana. Guess what? Humans - the users of social media - haven’t really changed their behavior in 75,000 years. Although, we do dress better now, and we’re not all cavorting naked on the plains of the Serengeti.

Humans - being human - love social interaction, particularly of the face-to-face variety. Always have, always will. In fact, a recent survey by Forbes indicates that executives favor face-to-face meetings over the virtual kind.

A majority of executives say the recession has cut back their travel and face-to-face meetings, and they don’t like that very much. A full 84% of those surveyed say they prefer real-life interaction over digital.

Although you can’t meet with everyone of your online shoppers, you can provide them some human interaction, too  They are craving this. According to an August 2009 survey conducted by Harris Interactive for human-assisted shopping site IMshopping,

77% of US Internet users who made an online purchase in the past six months would be interested in help from a real person before buying certain things on the Web. Though a majority of online shoppers reported a desire for help at least some of the time, 82% of respondents said they had not been able to get that assistance in the past. And more than one-half of that group said it had affected their purchase decision negatively—at least some of the time.

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for virtual meetings and online interaction. I’m just saying that you need to understand the genetic need humans have for the tangible. It’s harder to read people during digital interactions, and you can’t build deep, meaningful relationships solely using ones and zeroes.

The same holds true for tangible marketing material. There is a time and place for everything, and now is the time for you to stand out by being more tangible to your customers and allies.

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Social Media: Nothing New To See Here

Social Fresh, a conference on this thing we call social media, was held in Charlotte August 24.  The presentations were top-notch and the networking opportunities were excellent, but at the end of the day I can report there is nothing new about social media.

If you are in PR and have been practicing it correctly, you can handle social media. PR is about dialogue. So is social media.

If you are in marketing and have followed best practices, you can handle social media. Marketing is about crafting a relevant message and delivering it to the right person at the right time. So is social media.

The big questions about social media are the ones we have wrestled with in marketing for years: how do we integrate social media into the fabric of the organization, and how do we show hard-nosed business executives that social media does have an impact upon the bottom line.

Is social media new and different, or is it the same-old, same-old? We’ll be talking more about this in the days ahead, and would love to have your thoughts on the topic.

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The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same

As the marketing world morphs daily under the influence of new technology, we elders in the business sit back and marvel at how things have changed. Just last night I was talking with Dave Ruggerio and Randy Seeds of Synergy Studios about the pace of technological advance.  We all reminisced about how we used to do things in our first jobs.

For me, the oldest in the group, I remembered using a Royal manual typewriter in my first job as a reporter. Cut and paste was a true manual affair then. You took a straight edge, tore a paragraph out of your story and taped the new paragraph in. Then, you took the story to the typesetter.  In those days, Randy says corporate logos were hand drawn with India ink.

But here’s the point of all this. Technology may have changed, bringing us blogs and social media, but people haven’t changed since we came out of the trees and onto the African plains.

Marketers need to remember that no matter what vehicle you are using to deliver your message, you should set strategy first, then tightly define your audience. It is, after all, the people that matter most in the marketing equation. Once you clearly understand your target audience, the message almost crafts itself. That hasn’t changed and never will. End of sermon.

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Get Social Fresh

I’m part of a group which is presenting a social media conference, Social Fresh, in Charlotte, Monday, August 24 at the Holiday Inn Center City. Consider this your invitation to attend. You can register here. Here’s what we have announced so far:

We are very excited announce our first round of speakers. From left to right above, Jim Deitzel of Rubbermaid, Keith Burtis of Best Buy, and Social Media evangelist Wayne Sutton, Laurie Smithwick of Kirtsy.com, Chris Harrington of @VoteWoz, and Social Media developer Mike Rundle. These experts and panel announcements can all now be found on our Content page. We have many other speakers in the works from Fortune 500 companies, hip new social media companies as well as social networking power houses.

This is a solid group of social media experts. If you want to learn about where technology is going and how social media can be harnessed for business purposes, then you need to attend.

Additionally, we are accepting sponsors for the event. If you are interested, please sign up here and we’ll get back to you to discuss our sponsorship packages.

Keep apprised of more announcements by following us on Twitter @sofresh.  Below is the rest of our contact information. Hope to see you at the first Social Fresh.

Links

Site - http://socialfresh.com
Tickets - http://sofreshclt.eventbrite.com
Twitter - @sofresh
Contact - info at socialfresh.com
Hashtag - #sofresh
LinkedIn - Fresh SM Pros
Facebook - Social Fresh Page

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A Holiday Gas

You have to love clients who clearly understand their brand, their audiences and have the courage to communicate with them in their vernacular. That’s why I love the folks at Newell Rubbermaid. They get it.

Their BernzOmatic brand LaughYourGasOff.com website that My Creative Team built has been redecorated for the holidays. It now features the bed of a plumber’s truck filled with BernzOmatic Fat Boy gas cylinders, which toot out holiday ditties. We call it the Fat Boy Farting Choir.

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I think we hit a home run. You also can view them as YouTube videos:

Fat Boy Farting Choir Does Deck The Halls

Fat Boy Farting Choir Does Jingle Bells

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Marketers Not On Board With Social Networks

Social network sites are not high on the lists of top brand marketers, according to a new study by Epsilon. The survey indicates that,

55% of the chief marketing officers at leading brands surveyed by Epsilon said they’re not too interested (22%), or not interested at all (33%), in incorporating the social networking sites into their marketing strategies.

The Center for Media Research reports,

Steve Cone, Chief Marketing Officer of Epsilon, observes that “These sites narrowly appeal to college and high school students, providing a challenge as far as measuring results and yielding a limited amount of actionable data.”

Hogwash. Admittedly, FaceBook and MySpace started out aimed primarily at younger demographics. But in the last year there has been a surge in usage among Baby Boomers.

The big question is this: if marketers do start plugging into the networks, will they try lame-ass ads or will they actually attempt to engage in a conversation with customers and prospects? My bet is on lame-ass ads. Thoughts?

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Socialize With Us

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me say I appreciate the time you spend with us and your thoughtful comments on this blog. We are here to listen as well as speak to our peers and customers. You can subscribe to our blog via Feedburner.

Beyond this blog, My Creative Team is sociable in other ways. So, feel free to join our conversation through our other social media vehicles. Here’s how:

You can follow MyCreativeTeam on Twitter, or become an MCT fan at Facebook. We have a Friendfeed, or you can stumble along with us via StumbleUpon.

My Creative Team’s award-winning monthly enewsletter, Think, is another way to follow us.  Sign up here.

We love social media and believe every company should be using these tools to connect with their key audiences. What do you think? How can we do a better job connecting with you?

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PitchEngine: A PR Tool For Savvy Practitioners

Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes from guest blogger, Jason Kintzler of PitchEngine. This is a terrific service that every PR practitioner should be using. So, get over there and sign up.

How it was born
I don’t claim to be a PR or social media expert, however I have had experience on both sides of the coin, as a journalist and as a PR guy. I’ve seen the disconnect between media and PR when it comes to technology, and I realized that there are better ways to close the gap and better media relations. That’s how PitchEngine came about.

Phase One
The first phase of PitchEngine is the Social Media Release Builder which gives PR firms (large and small) the ability to create and share digital content easily. It differs from what’s out there today because it’s easy, it’s free and it’s designed to be shared via social methods instead of through PR distribution services.

Jason Baer shared the need for PitchEngine in a recent blog post:

“The hang-up with social media releases has been actually getting them built. Most PR folks are not Web programmers, and the very nature of what makes a social media release useful (tags, links, multi-media) makes it tricky to execute if your definition of high tech is inserting a footer in Microsoft Word. PitchEngine is out to change all that. Their slick, exceptionally easy online social media release creation engine is by far the best I’ve seen. Literally, if I took the time to explain what a “tag” was to my 9 year-old, she could make a release (it would probably be about ice skating or the dresses on The Titanic).”

Phase Two
The second phase, which we’ll be rolling out this week, is the Social Media Newsroom. Now, users will be able to create customized newsrooms for each brand they manage within PitchEngine. These Newsrooms host and archive current and future PitchEngine SMRs and can be added via link to a brand’s website (or integrated into a frame set or iframe on their site). This will be a subscription-based service for $600/yr. We’ll have more details up on the site this week!

Phase Three
This phase is the one I’m most excited about. Typical newswires offer media access to a selection of pre-determined RSS feeds full of traditional releases. The media side of PitchEngine will give journalists and bloggers unprecedented controls over PR content. Users can create a completely custom and individualized feed for their newsbeat, industry or category - no two feeds will be alike. Once a media user has a profile, they can send all PR pitches through the PitchEngine system, where they can approve or deny each of them based on their interest level. It’s an innovative platform that I’m anxious to unveil.

The need is apparent. People like social media consultant and blogger, Chris Brogan, are already sending PR people directly to the site.

“I’m going to refer EVERYONE who pitches me to the PitchFeed part of PitchEngine, ” Brogan said in his post on chrisbrogan.com.

The experts weigh in
I’ve read posts and tweets from a few critics of PitchEngine. Without much investigation, they’re quick to jump in and tell people that it won’t work or it’s a pipedream. I’ve heard how newswires are drawing parallels to their services and comparing apples to oranges. I believe PitchEngine competes with Microsoft Word more than it does with PR distribution services, especially at this early stage. I welcome the criticism. The beauty of a start-up like this is that my intentions are genuine and I have no one to answer to except our PR and media users.

The feedback from the alpha run of PitchEngine was incredible. Practically every user I invited fired back an email or a tweet expressing their appreciation for what we’re doing. That says more than any ‘expert’ opinion out there.

Deirdre Breakenridge from PFS Marketwyse and author of PR 2.0 posted this comment within a day of our launch,

“I think that you will really help many PR professionals to learn about the social media tools that are available in such a way that they will feel comfortable and confident with these easy to use resources.”

The influences
There are lot of people doing great things out there right now. From a PR perspective, I value the insights of people like Brian Solis and Todd Defren. Peter Shankman’s HARO is great example of someone pushing the boundaries beyond tradition in PR circles as well. My views may vary slightly, but it’s that spirit of change that drives me. I want to inspire others to rediscover their passion for PR and media. When that happens, PitchEngine will succeed.

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Pay No Attention To The Man Behind That (Bamboo) Curtain

Editor’s Note: Ed Moed of the Measuring Up blog - along with THINKing - is one of the 32 bloggers involved in the PRWeek PR Blog competition. He has proposed that we 32 bloggers unite on topics of concern to PR practitioners. Today’s topic: China’s Failed Olympics Strategy.

Thanks to the Olympics, we are getting a peek behind the Chinese Bamboo Curtain. Typical of totalitarian governments everywhere, the Chinese want to control all information in order to create a positive worldview of the awakening giant. Oops, I guess they forgot about the Internet.

In this digital age - like Dorothy in Oz - we can see right through the (bamboo) curtain. Try as you might, China, we’ll find out what is happening: good and bad. As Ed Moed points out,

Yet, it (China) continues to make superficial attempts (even today) to communicate that it will tell state police to stop interfering with reporters and allow for formerly restricted Internet sites to be opened. The bitter irony is that, just a few hours after that news broke, we’ve learned that Chinese paramilitary police beat two Japanese journalists Tuesday night for absolutely no justified reason.

Information - like humans - wants to be free and our new digital environment will make it so for both. No totalitarian government has the wherewithal to stop it.

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